A honeycomb structure has heretofore been used as a filter for trapping particulate matter contained in a dust-containing fluid such as exhaust gas emitted from a diesel engine.
In the honeycomb structure used for such a purpose, the rapid temperature change of exhaust gas and the local heating easily makes non-uniform the temperature distribution inside the honeycomb structure, which makes problems such as crack generation in the honeycomb structure and the like. When the honeycomb structure is used particularly as a filter for trapping particulate matter in exhaust gas emitted from a diesel engine, it is necessary to burn the fine carbon particles deposited on the filter to remove the particles and regenerate the filter. In that case, high temperatures are inevitably generated locally in the filter. As a result, a large thermal stress and cracks tend to be generated. Here, the thermal stress is generated because thermal expansion/deformation of each part of the honeycomb structure differs by the non-uniformity of the temperature distribution, in which the temperature of a central part becomes higher than that of a peripheral part, and the parts are mutually restrained and are not freely deformable.
The above-described problem is remarkable especially in a honeycomb filter of SiC. That is, through the honeycomb filter of SiC is superior in heat resistance, the filter disadvantageously has a coefficient of thermal expansion which is higher than that of a conventionally-known cordierite honeycomb filter, and is inferior to the conventional filter in a thermal shock resistance.
To avoid this disadvantage, there has been known a measure of dividing structural parts into smaller segments to reduce the stress, and a proposal for applying this measure to the honeycomb structure for trapping particulates in the exhaust gas has been already described, for example, in JP-A-6-241017, JP-A-8-28246, JP-A-7-54643, and JP-A-8-28248.
However, since a thermal conductivity in a radial direction drops in the structure described in the above proposals, the thermal shock resistance is not much enhanced. Therefore, a stress reducing effect on the segment surface is insufficient, and the problem of crack generation cannot be completely solved.
The present invention has been developed in consideration of the conventional problems and aims to provide a honeycomb filter in which a crack is not generated by thermal stress generated at a use time, especially at a regeneration time and which is superior in durability.